What is a Resident Return visa?
A Resident Return visa restores travel rights for someone returning to Australia as a permanent resident after their existing travel facility expires. The Home Affairs Resident Return visa page, updated 1 July 2026, identifies current permanent residents, former permanent residents whose visa was not cancelled, and former Australian citizens as the relevant groups.
There are two subclasses: 155, described as the Five Year Resident Return visa, and 157, the Three Month Resident Return visa. The Home Affairs Resident Return visa page explains that a subclass 155 does not always provide five years: a grant based on substantial ties or the family route provides up to one year.
Who needs a Resident Return visa?
Whether you need a Resident Return visa depends on travel, not simply on how long you have held permanent residence:
- Leaving and returning after your facility ends: the Home Affairs Resident Return visa page says you need an RRV to re-enter as a permanent resident.
- Staying in Australia: that page says an RRV is not needed while you remain here.
- Reaching the five-year mark: the Home Affairs overseas-travel page, updated 19 February 2026, confirms that permanent residence continues in Australia after the travel facility ends.
- Becoming an Australian citizen: the overseas-travel page confirms that citizenship removes the need for an RRV.
- Returning on a temporary visa instead: the overseas-travel page warns that this may have negative consequences.
Do I need to renew my PR after 5 years?
No. The Home Affairs overseas-travel page distinguishes continuing permanent residence from the expiring travel facility: you do not renew permanent residence just because five years have passed. If you stay in Australia, you do not need an RRV; if you want to return as a permanent resident after the facility ends, you do.
RRV 155 and 157: the residence test and facility lengths
The RRV residence test for a five-year subclass 155 facility is more specific than “two years spent in Australia”. Clause 155.212(2) of the Migration Regulations 1994, in the 1 July 2026 compilation, requires lawful presence for at least two years in the five years immediately before the application, while holding a permanent visa or being an Australian citizen.
The Home Affairs Resident Return visa page expresses this as 730 cumulative days, counted backwards from lodgement—not from the decision date. The days need not form one uninterrupted stay, but time outside the five-year window does not contribute to that count.
Use the facility table above to compare the alternatives. Under the Home Affairs Resident Return visa page, meeting the residence test gives a five-year facility; substantial ties of benefit to Australia or the family route gives up to one year. Clause 157.511 specifies three months from grant for subclass 157.
An RRV replaces the travel permission discussed in the 858 travel facility guide. The Home Affairs Resident Return visa page says remaining time on the existing facility is not carried over, and the facility cannot be extended.
What is the difference between subclass 155 and 157?
The Home Affairs Resident Return visa page distinguishes subclass 155’s five-year residence-test route and up-to-one-year ties or family routes from subclass 157’s compelling-and-compassionate-reasons route involving a recent absence. Subclass 157 gives three months from grant under clause 157.511; do not treat any absence as automatically satisfying its criteria.
Can a Resident Return visa be refused?
Yes: an application must satisfy the applicable subclass criteria to be granted. The Home Affairs Resident Return visa page says every application is assessed against both 155 and 157, so failing the five-year residence test does not by itself settle whether another RRV route is available.
Resident Return visa cost and processing time
A Resident Return visa costs $1,475 from 1 July 2026, or $505 with the Pacific-regional passport concession, under Schedule 1 item 1128 of the Migration Regulations 1994. There is no second instalment; the Home Affairs price data retrieved on 3 October 2026 also confirms the $1,475 base charge.
For processing time, the Home Affairs tool, updated 29 September 2026, reports subclass 155 figures ranging from under one day at the 25% and 50% points to six days at the 90% point. For subclass 157, the corresponding figures are five, 18, 45 and 65 days, as shown in the processing card.
These describe applications already decided, not a promised decision date for your application. Use the dated figures when planning, rather than assuming every subclass 155 application will be decided within six days.
How much does a Resident Return visa cost?
The charge is $1,475 from 1 July 2026, or $505 if the Pacific-regional passport concession applies, under Schedule 1 item 1128 of the Migration Regulations 1994.
Applying for a Resident Return visa: family members and timing
Plan a Resident Return visa application around each person’s travel facility and residence history:
- Each family member applies separately. The Home Affairs Resident Return visa page says family members cannot be included as secondary applicants.
- Do not assume unused travel time will be preserved. That page says remaining facility time is not carried over. A practical timing approach is to apply close to expiry, before travel, while allowing for assessment—not automatically years early.
- Count backwards from the intended lodgement date. The Home Affairs residence test uses the five years before application, so the relevant window changes with your application date.
- Do not rely solely on a reminder. The Home Affairs overseas-travel page says it emails a reminder 60 days before expiry if your email is recorded and no RRV application is pending.
For current lodgement instructions, use the Home Affairs Resident Return visa page linked above. The timing and family rules here do not replace its application instructions.
Can my children be included in my RRV?
No. The Home Affairs Resident Return visa page says each family member needs a separate application; children cannot be added as secondary applicants to a parent’s RRV.
When an 858 holder needs a Resident Return visa (after the 5-year travel facility ends)
An 858 holder needs a Resident Return visa to re-enter as a permanent resident after the five-year travel facility ends. Clause 858.511 of the Migration Regulations 1994 gives that facility five years from grant, and the Home Affairs National Innovation visa page, updated 4 September 2026, identifies subclasses 155 and 157 as the return options afterwards.
For example, applying that five-year rule, an 858 granted on 15 August 2025 has a travel facility to 15 August 2030. That is a travel-rights date, not a requirement to leave Australia.
For a first permanent visa granted offshore, time overseas after grant does not build the Australian residence count. Applying clause 155.212(2), an offshore 858 grantee who has accumulated fewer than 730 qualifying days in Australia since grant does not meet the five-year-facility test; Home Affairs then assesses whether the shorter-facility criteria are met.
Does time in Australia before my 858 was granted count toward the 2 years?
Not if you were only holding a temporary visa. Clause 155.212(2) counts qualifying presence as a permanent visa holder or citizen. Earlier time could count if you already held another permanent visa or were an Australian citizen during that time.
Resident Return visas for New Zealand passport holders
New Zealand passport holders who hold an Australian permanent visa need to address their status on arrival. The Home Affairs Special Category visa page, updated 8 September 2026, says they must tell immigration clearance staff they do not want a Special Category visa; otherwise, an SCV may be granted and affect RRV eligibility.
The SCV is a separate temporary visa for New Zealand citizens, according to that Home Affairs page. The distinction between protected and non-protected SCV holders is separate from holding an Australian permanent visa and maintaining its return rights.
The Resident Return visa and 858 permanent residence
The Home Affairs National Innovation visa page confirms that the 858 visa is permanent from the day of grant; using 858 permanent residence includes keeping travel rights separate from the right to stay.
The Home Affairs citizenship page, updated 30 September 2026, sets out the citizenship residence requirement: four years living in Australia on a valid visa immediately before applying, including the last 12 months as a permanent resident, with specified absence limits.
Meeting that residence requirement does not itself make you a citizen, but becoming an Australian citizen removes the need for an RRV, as the Home Affairs overseas-travel page explains.
Before travel, ask an Australian migration lawyer to count your qualifying permanent-resident or citizen days in the preceding five years, assess whether a substantial-ties case is needed, and check application timing against the no-carry-over rule.